The Phantom Manor

Chapter One

* Above YouTube clip is what they heard which led them to the manor.

"Luka! Shh!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Shut up right now or I hit you with the flashlight."

He glared at her in the dim light but didn't say a word as she gripped her flashlight tightly. "Do you promise to whisper now?"

He nodded. Hannah loosened her grip on the flashlight. "Ok. Good. Come on. I need you to boost me over the gate."

He made a face. "Hannah, are you sure about this?"

"You heard it, too, didn't you?"

Luka bit his lip. "Well, yes," he admitted. "But I don't know if this is a good idea. I mean, we'll be trespassing on private property. That's against the law, Hannah."

Hannah gritted her teeth. In secret, she wasn't so sure either. She didn't like this anymore than he did. But she had to know what she had heard. "Come on," she said, forcing her uneasiness down. She approached the gate. "Give me a boost and I'll unlock the gate."

"Okay," he said, not bothering to hide his own uneasiness. He grunted as he lifted her up. She grabbed on the gate and pulled herself over. Landing softly on the ground, she immediately turned on her flashlight, studying the grounds. She could barely discern the tall manor in the shadows.

"Hannah," Luka said in a loud whisper, and she jolted back to reality. She rushed to the gate and pulled it open. He rushed inside and they closed it. Then both of them switched on their flashlights, studying the grounds.

Luka grimaced as they looked out at the grounds. They had not been well kept. Grass was overgrown in the planter areas, weeds squeezing the life from any plants that may have once lived there. The path was kept well enough, but some of the stones were cracked and dirty. Then the twisting path led up to the manor. The old structure was beautiful. It would have once been a grand, Victorian home, but now age had turned the walls a dark brown, the shutters were moldy, the roof missing shingles. It truly looked as though it could be haunted.

Hannah regarded the place with interest and curiosity, but also a touch of fear. Because she had heard something in that mansion. She had heard it from her room in the neighborhood across the way. And she needed to know what it was.

"Come on," Hannah said in a whisper, and they started along the path, stepping around overgrown weeds and over parts where the paving just went away. Finally they reached the entrance to the mansion, a door that never locked, never closed. It just creaked, blowing in the wind. Luka stopped in front of the door suddenly, looking at Hannah questioningly. Swallowing her fear, she stepped into the mansion's entry hall.

The entry hall was candlelit. She looked about at the walls. Every wall looked the same, except one. That one wall was different in only one respect: a painting hung on the wall. Small, circular, of the face of a young woman.

"She's beautiful," Hannah said in awe, studying the painting. The woman seemed to be smiling, and her auburn hair framed her face. Her cheeks were pink, and the painter had managed to capture a sort of innocence about her.

    Then the sound. The song. The wordless song of children's sounds strung together in a long, eerie tune. The voice was beautiful, ethereal, but it frightened Hannah.

    Because the mansion was supposed to be vacant.

    Luka's face had turned white, but he swallowed. "This way." He turned into a circular room. The doors slammed shut behind them, and Hannah screamed.